Old-timey British car advertisments are hilarious. From the Triumph Herald “That almost never needs greasing!’ to the Sunbeam Alpine with eight consecutive exclamation marks in its strap-line, everything was tremendously exciting in 1959.
Cue Chris Elliott‘s ‘1959 British Family Saloon’, a homage to the cars (and car marketers) of 65 years ago. With echoes of Riley, Ford Anglia, and Sunbeam Rapier amongst many others, Chris’ creation could only be more late-’50s British if its description included the phrase “Keep your daily commutes punctual and stylish!”. Wait, it does? Well that’s a dandy way to describe the feeling that only motoring in the newest 1959 design can give!
Don your Motorway safety felt cap, check your Bowmonk dynometer, and fire up your Eltron ‘Car Kettle and Carfri‘* at Chris Elliot’s photostream via the link above!
*Yes that last link really was a device for boiling water and cooking bacon whilst driving to work. Golly the ’50s were terrific!
Thank you for this humorous post, I’m glad you liked the design – you perfectly captured the spirit of the era with your writing! The original inception for the front end was a Wolseley 1500, but many of the cars you listed were reference materials at some point in the process. I *still* cannot believe that car kettle/grill was a real thing. Especially given how flammable old cars were.